Indie

Think of ‘indie’ and you’ll more likely get mental images of Blur vs Oasis, or maybe you’ll be singing along internally to that Killers university anthem. Unless you’re not 31 like me. Then who knows what way you think, strange young person.

So this blog is about music?! Wise up. As usual it’s about them videogames. Indie has become such an overused term in the medium and the rise of indie games has seen them make up probably half my gaming purchases. What counts as an indie game though? And what does that word even mean anymore to gamers? These questions and others will be explored below…

Still here? Nice! Thank you. So indie is obviously short for independent. So indie games are clearly those games made by small teams or individuals, outside the safety net of the big publishers. There you go, this blog will be short. Access your consoles digital storefront or Steam on the PC and you’ll have access to hundreds of indie titles.

Usually these titles are lower budget, cheaper priced titles. Like Child of Light and probably the opposite of No Mans Sky. Or not like those examples at all.

Child of light is a game made by a small team which I purchased for less than a tenner and here’s a screenshot to show it looks. 

Gorgeous but 2d and nothing like the technical grandeur of say a GTA or Batman. Except this game is not indie. It was developed within and published by the same gaming giant that produces Assassins Creed and Far Cry.

No Mans Sky is a game that’s huge in scope, that’s fully 3D and it retailed for £50. It was made by a team of around six people. It is indie. I’m not trying to confuse any of you, just trying to convey how some people use the term. Indie has become the go to word for downloadable, less expensive titles. If you can’t buy a disc version of it then its indie. If its 2d, its indie. Which of course is all a load of poop nuggets. 

Why does it matter? Well it grinds my gears a bit when folks say they don’t play indies, that they don’t like indies. That term does not describe a genre, it doesn’t relate to one definable type of gaming experience. Indie games include platformers, fighting games, horror titles, strategy, everything and anything. It’s the equivalent of not liking Indian and declaring you hate all food. It’s daft. 

It’d also be daft for me to then state I love indies. I love a lot of them. I’ve hated plenty too. There’s thousands more I’ve never played. The rest of this paragraph is just going to be a list of indies that I’ve loved… Shovel Knight, Guacamelee, Runner 2, Stealth Inc 2, The Unfinished Swan, Flower, Thomas Was Alone, JOURNEY!!! 

 

Next on my list to play is Hue. I saw it pop on a PS sale, watched the trailer and out of curiosity I tweeted asking for opinions on the game. A reply came from the developer themselves, obviously stating it was great but that was enough to clinch the purchase from me. Another time I tweeted about how much I enjoyed Mike Bithells Volume. Mike Bithell replied saying thank you. Amazing. I’ve tweeted my love for Nintendo a million times and yet they’ve never replied to me, the evil giant corporation. It’s a simple thing but I do like the idea that I’m supporting the little guys and that I’m getting an experience which has come from fewer creative minds, without being led or controlled by a team of marketing zombies. 

Indies are diverse. They can be rubbish, they can be generic but they can also be the most creatively expressive gems you’ll ever play. In a market which continues to see mainstream game budgets rise and studios close, indies have filled the gaps. They have provided me with plenty of palette cleansers between forty hour adventures and many more that make me ignore my gaming shelf. They’ve made me care about featureless squares, let me save the world with a shovel and provided me with a two hour masterpiece that stirred more emotion in me than I knew I had. Spread your gaming time, try something a little different. Don’t like it? Keep going, there’s an indie you will find that will join your favourites. Let me know what is.